HRF Files Complaint in the Netherlands Against US-Israeli Soldier Linked to School Raid, Mass Detentions, and Destruction in Gaza

Accused of involvement in attacks on schools sheltering displaced families, the forced stripping and mass detention of Palestinian civilians, and the destruction of homes in Beit Hanoun, US-Israeli former soldier Noam Himmelman is now in Amsterdam. HRF has filed a criminal complaint against the former member of the Kfir Brigade’s 97th Battalion (Netzah Yehuda) with the Dutch National Public Prosecutor’s Office under the International Crimes Act. The complaint alleges war crimes, crimes against humanity, and acts of genocide. HRF is urging Dutch authorities to investigate and act while the suspect is on their territory.

4 November 2026, Amsterdam, The Netherlands / Brussels, Belgium – The Hind Rajab Foundation (HRF) has filed a criminal complaint in the Netherlands against Noam Himmelman, a US-Israeli dual national and former soldier of the 97th Battalion (Netzah Yehuda) of the Kfir Brigade, for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and acts of genocide committed during Israel's war on the Gaza Strip. 

The complaint was filed with the Dutch National Public Prosecutor's Office under the Dutch International Crimes Act (Wet Internationale Misdrijven), which gives Dutch courts jurisdiction over international crimes, including when the suspect is present on Dutch territory. Himmelman is currently in Amsterdam.

Himmelman enlisted in the Israeli army in November 2022 and served with the 97th Battalion (Netzah Yehuda), an infantry battalion of the Kfir Brigade, until July 2025. The battalion operated extensively in Beit Hanoun, a city in the northern Gaza Strip that Israeli forces encircled and raided repeatedly from the first weeks of the war onward. Over the course of the battalion's deployments, Beit Hanoun suffered a raid on a school sheltering displaced families, mass detentions of men, and the demolition of residential buildings, a pattern of destruction HRF has documented and geolocated through open-source material.

Himmelman documented his deployment on social media. Following the publication of his name online in December 2024, he deleted most of his military-related content, which HRF had already preserved as evidence.

On 16 April 2024, Israeli forces, including the Netzah Yehuda Battalion, then under the command of Lt. Col. Shlomo Shiran, surrounded schools in Beit Hanoun that were sheltering thousands of displaced Palestinians, including the Mahdiyya Al-Shawwa School. The battalion fired on the complex and detained dozens of men, including elderly persons and teenagers, forcing them to strip naked before being taken away. Himmelman documented these arrests in an Instagram story, which HRF verified and geolocated to a military outpost adjacent to the school. 

Between January and July 2025, the battalion also carried out several controlled demolitions of residential buildings throughout Beit Hanoun and participated in the mass destruction of the town. Himmelman served with the battalion throughout these operations. 

HRF's complaint identifies this conduct as constituting war crimes: 

• Extensive destruction of property not justified by military necessity; 
• Intentionally directing attacks against civilians, civilian objects and against buildings dedicated to education; 
• Unlawful transfer and confinement of civilians; and
• Intentionally launching attacks expected to cause excessive harm to civilians. 

The complaint further alleges crimes against humanity, including extermination, as well as acts of genocide. Both categories of crimes have been documented by the UN Commission of Inquiry in Gaza, while crimes against humanity and war crimes are the subject of arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court against senior Israeli leaders.

The complaint also examines the history of the Netzah Yehuda Battalion, which Himmelman knowingly joined despite its long-documented record of violence against Palestinian civilians: 

• In January 2022, Omar Assad, a 78-year-old Palestinian-American, died after being detained, bound, blindfolded, and abandoned by Netzah Yehuda soldiers; 
• In April 2024, the U.S. Department of State determined that the battalion had committed gross human rights violations and considered barring it from U.S. military assistance under the Leahy Law. The proposed sanctions were ultimately dropped following pressure from Israel.

HRF argues that by knowingly joining a unit with a publicly documented record of abuses, participating in its operations during the destruction of Beit Hanoun, and continuing to serve alongside soldiers who openly advocated for the extermination of Palestinians, Himmelman deliberately aligned himself with the criminal objectives of the unit’s operations.

Dyab Abou Jahjah, General Director at HRF:

“Noam Himmelman did not fight a war; he participated in the systematic destruction of a civilian population and documented his actions on social media. We are not asking the Netherlands for a gesture of solidarity. We are asking it to apply the law. The families of Beit Hanoun have the same right to justice as any other victims of war crimes. Neither an Israeli uniform nor an American passport should place anyone beyond accountability. Himmelman is on Dutch soil. Our evidence is before the Dutch authorities. They must now investigate and act. Palestinian lives cannot remain the exception to the principles Europe calls universal.”

Natacha Bracq, Head of Litigation at HRF: 

“HRF has presented evidence linking Himmelman to the Netzah Yehuda Battalion and its documented record of destruction in Beit Hanoun. The Netherlands has the legal framework, the precedent, and now a suspect on its territory. There is no justification for inaction.””

For the victims of Beit Hanoun, and for the countless Palestinians whose lives and homes have been destroyed, justice can no longer remain merely a promise; it must become a reality.

The era of impunity must end, and the Netherlands now has the opportunity to help bring it to an end.